Saturday, September 26, 2015

Shopkins Shoppies Review: Jessicake, Bubbleisha, and Popette

Earlier this month, my daughters and I were super excited to see The Mommy and Gracie Show's review of a new line of dolls from Moose Toys: the Shoppies. These dolls are part of the super popular Shopkins line from Moose, and are meant to coordinate with the tiny toys.

Oldest Gal, Middle Gal, and Little Gal instantly added these girls to their wishlists and hoped we would find them soon. Conveniently, Moose Toys decided to start this line with three different dolls, and all three of my daughters liked different ones. (It's always so nice when that happens.) ;)

Yesterday, while on an out-of-town trip, my mom was able to find all three of the dolls at Toys R Us. She bought them for the girls, and I surprised them with them after school yesterday. All three of them were thrilled. :) We decided to try something new, so the girls did a video review for my YouTube channel, which I will link at the end of this post. I still wanted to do a blog review as well, though.

We are loving these new cuties and can't wait to share them with you. :)

First up is Little Gal's favorite, Popette:

She has curly blonde hair, blue eyes, and popcorn-themed clothing and accessories. She also has two exclusive Shopkins friends. :)

The packaging had to be cut open with scissors. Inside the outer plastic is this clear plastic insert.

The dolls are attached by rubber bands at their arms...

...and legs.

They also have a plastic tie threaded through the packaging and attached to each side of their head (demonstrated here by Bubbleisha). It was pretty tricky to get these plastic ties removed without cutting the hair, but we managed to pull it off. However, because of this and the scissor-required opening, I would highly recommend parental help for little package openers. ;)

Here is Popette, free from her bonds, with all of her included goodies.

First, we'll look at Popette herself. :)

Her bright coloring and wide-eyed expression make her look very cheerful. Her eye design is similar to the Shopkins' eyes.

Her outfit consists of a plastic shirt and a cloth skirt.

Her plastic shoes include painted on socks attached.

We loved how her heels are made of popcorn bags. The shoes remind me a lot of the Ever After High and Monster High lines, where the heels usually have some sort of design that goes along with the doll's theme or hobbies.

Popette from the back. Gotta love those curls! ;)

I was worried about how this hair would hold up with Little Gal. I'm sure these curls won't look nearly so nice in a week or two. The nice thing is, they're fairly tight and stay together quite nicely. The fact that Little Gal can't brush Popette's hair may make it last a little longer, too. ;)

Popette's popcorn-themed headband is attached with yellow string. We will probably keep it attached this way for as long as possible. Once you take something like this off, it usually never stays on the same way again.

You've already seen it in some of the earlier pictures, but here's a closer look at Popette's stand. It's a simple, clear plastic disc with one little peg on the top.

Popette's left shoe has a hole in the heel that fits perfectly over the peg on the stand.

I think it was really smart of Moose Toys to include stands with these dolls, especially since their larger heads and thick hair can make them rather top heavy. Jessicake is the worst of the three. I'm so glad the stands are there to prevent the frustration of "fainting" dolls. ;)

As a side note, be sure you remember to get the doll stand out of the packaging when you're opening your Shoppies! The clear plastic stand blends right into the clear plastic packaging. Oldest Gal almost threw her stand away by accident!

I already mentioned that the skirt was removable, but I thought I'd show you a picture. Here is Popette without her skirt or shoes. Since her shirt is non-removable and she has built-in underwear, this is a doll that will never be completely undressed, a nice feature for parents concerned with doll modesty. ;)

Her feet are so adorable. I love the way they're curved. She has some serious cankles going on there. ;)

The Shoppies can sit, although they have to lean against something to stay up because of their over-sized heads.

Their arms can move up...

...down...

...and out. The curved arm doesn't have as much variety in position because of its bend. Still, I love how Popette can fluff her side curl. ;)

Popette's Shopkins friends are Bowl-inda Popcorn and Polly Popcorn.

Bowl-inda and Polly from the back.

Here is Popette's cute little popcorn purse. The poor thing didn't come with a name, but I'm sure Little Gal will be able to think of something. ;)

Popcorn Purse from the back.

The purse hangs nicely in the crook of Popette's arm.

I love Popette's cute popcorn brush.

As cute as this is, I wouldn't recommend using it on Popette's hair unless you want a big, tangled mess of curls!

Each Shoppie comes with a VIP card that looks like an actual credit/debit card, with a strip on the back and everything.

It even has embossed letters in silver on the front.

Each card has a code on the back that can be used to get Shopkins rewards on the Shopkins website.

Now let's take a look at Oldest Gal's favorite, Popette's pal Jessicake:

I actually took Jessicake's packaged pictures first, so I have a few more packaging pictures of her:

Jessicake's Bio...

...and package art. We all loved the cute, stylized artwork of the Shoppies. :)

Here's Jessicake with all of her extras.

She has such fun coloring. We love the soft blue of her hair and the sprinkles on her skirt.

Side views:

I think her hair will take a lot more maintenance than Popette's. Unfortunately, the hair quality on these dolls is not the greatest, although it's not as bad as it could be. I would recommend avoiding too much brushing. The hair was already losing some wave in these pictures because Oldest Gal brushed it, and now it's starting to get to that puffy, thick stage that certain types of doll hair get to before it starts matting. If you must brush this hair, I would recommend wetting it down first with a small spritz bottle and carefully using a brush with wire teeth.

Jessicake's sweet face...

...and headband.

Her outfit

Cupcake shoes...

...with cupcake heels.

She has short bangs on one side...

...and longer bangs with a curl on the other.

I think her tiny ears are so adorable! :)

Like Popette, she has a nice range of motion in her arms:

The Shoppies' heads only turn side to side. They do not angle up and down:

I just can't help but smile when I look at these dolls. They look so cheerful! :)

Side views:

Middle Gal loves Bubbleisha's curly pigtails.

I'm a bit worried about this hair as well, but of the three girls, Middle Gal is the most careful with doll hair. So if anyone has a chance to keep the hair nice, it's her. ;)

Bubbleisha's sweet face...

...and bubblegum headband.

Her outfit.

Bubble shoes...

...with gumball machine heels.

"I'm so happy!" For some reason, I get the feeling that Bubbleisha and Pinkie Pie would get along quite nicely. ;)

Here are Bubbleisha's pals Bubba Gum and Bubblicious.

Bubba and Bubblicious from the back.

Bubbleisha's purse is a big yellow gumball with tiny gumballs for a strap.

The purse from the back...

...and on Bubbleisha's arm.

She even has a bubblegum brush. In person, it's actually a bit more of a pinky-purple, but for some reason, my camera decided to photograph it in this shade. :}

The brush from the back.

Bubbleisha's VIP card.

One of the genius things about these dolls is that they're the perfect size for the Shopkins accessories and shop sets that have been previously released.

Thumbs up, Moose Toys! It's so great to have dolls that fit the cute playsets.

I wanted to get some pictures of the girls with some other small dolls.

The first group photo.

I didn't mind photographing the Shoppies with Kelly, Chelsea, and mini AG dolls to give a size comparison, but I felt like I was comparing apples and oranges. The Shoppies have a unique, stylized look that doesn't mix with the more realistic features of these dolls:

So then I went back to my room and brought out some other dolls that were more similar in style.

This seems like a better comparison, don't you think? ;)

Here is Bubbleisha with a Hasbro Plum Pudding.

And here's Jessicake with a Bridge Direct Blueberry Muffin. Oldest Gal thinks they would make good sisters. ;)

By the way, in this picture, you can see how frizzy Jessicake's hair is from just a few brushings. :( I'm going to try to work with it a bit and see if we can tame it some. Again, I would recommend not brushing this hair at all if you can help it. When you do need to, a spritzer bottle and a wire brush will do much better.

Of course, I had to get a picture of Bubbleisha with my Lalaloopsy Bubbles Smack 'N' Pop mini and Tinies dolls. :)

My Tinies version is the perfect shade to match!

One of the first things the girls and I thought of when we saw the Shoppies were the short-lived Kawaii Crush dolls.

These dolls were super cute but had some major quality issues. It's fun to have a similar line without the same problems. They sure look cute together, though! :)

I also knew I'd have to get a picture of Bubbleisha with Fluttershy because of their similar coloring. :) Fluttershy is definitely a My Little Pony next to Bubbleisha, but they still look cute together.

Then I thought I should try Bubbleisha with one of my G1 ponies. Here she is with my special UK Edition Confetti from My Little Pony Express.

The pinks aren't quite the same shade, but they still look cute together. :)

So, Moose Toys, I believe you've started another obsession in our house. ;) Here's Bubbleisha with our other two favorites from Moose Toys: Zelfs and Shopkins. :)

As always, I'd like to conclude with my overall thoughts.

Pleasing Qualities: 4.5 out of 5

Overall, the Shoppies are fun, adorable dolls with a lot of personality. I love their bright colors and creative themes. I'm deducting a half point because I think the hair quality could improve. I'm hoping this is something Moose Toys will work on in future releases. I'd also love to see some variety in facial expressions in the newer dolls. The Shoppies are all super cute, but they all have almost the exact same face. One of the things I've always loved about Shopkins is that they are making so many different faces, and often display expressions to match their personalities or qualities. It would be great if the Shoppies did the same thing.

Posability: 4.5 out of 5

While these dolls aren't the most posable ones out there, they have a fairly decent range of motion compared to other dolls of similar height and build. This isn't exactly the type of doll you'd purchase for extensive posability in the first place, and with the larger heads of these dolls, adding more posability would take away some of their stability. I like the extra available movement in their shoulders. It would be nice if they could sit unassisted a little better, but that's about my only complaint.

Playability: 5 out of 5

These dolls offer some fun options for playtime. Aside from their slightly messy hair, they are nice and durable. Their compatibility with the Shopkins toys and playsets will open up all sorts of possibilities for kiddos who are already fans of Shopkins. I fully expect to have entire shops set up in my daughters' rooms for the Shoppies over the next few weeks. ;)

Price: 4 out of 5

The Shoppies are $14.99 each, which will make collecting them a little more difficult for us. I would love it if they were around $10 each. When you have three girls, purchasing three items at $14.99 each can add up pretty quickly. Our other faves from Moose Toys, Zelfs and Shopkins, are much more practical for us. We can buy a set of twelve Shopkins for around $10 and split them between the girls, and the Zelfs are usually around $6 each. The Shoppies are also bigger, so they'll take up more space and will not work as well for extensive collecting.

Overall, we're very pleased with these new girls. I think this was a super smart marketing move for Moose Toys. Shopkins are already quite popular, and a line of dolls that work perfectly with the Shopkins toys and playsets will appeal to many of the Shopkins fans out there. I'm excited to see what Moose does with this line in the future. :)

Thoughts From the Gals:

(We'll do a shortened version of the girls' thoughts this time around since they shared a bit on the video review.) ;)

Oldest Gal:

Jessicake is really adorable and I love her. I think it's a good thing that my favorite color is blue because I was brushing Jessicake's hair, and it started to frizz a bit on the bottom. It's probably a good thing Little Gal got Popette, whose hair can't be brushed. I love the Shoppies and hope Moose Toys comes out with more.

Middle Gal:

I think that Bubbleisha is very adorable. I really like her face. I really like how her skirt and shoes can come off. Overall, I think that anyone who sees them should just grab them and buy them and take them home! :)

Little Gal:

I like Popette because she's really cute and she kinda looks like me! I also like her because of her cute headband, but the one downside about her is she has curly hair that you can't brush. So if you're a kid that likes to brush hair and you really like this doll, then you would be kinda disappointed. I love, love, love, love, love, love Popette!!!

Please be sure to check out our YouTube review here as well:

Update! The Shoppies are now available to purchase online at the Toys R Us website. Click HERE to get your own. :)

What are your thoughts? Will any of you be adding Shoppies to your collections?

Just from watching the video, Oldest Gal seems really cool. She seems like someone I'd want to be friends with (This is coming from someone in her age group). Tell her I said that :). All of your girls seem really awesome, though, and I love their enthusiasm.

Cute trio and I like the thematic unity between the dolls, their outfits, and accessories/Shopkins buddies! I feel that Popette is the best out of the three, but, I'm biased, as popcorn (especially the cheese variety) is one of my favorite snacks. Given the food motif, it would have been cool if Moose had made these dolls scented too, a la Strawberry Shortcake.

I checked out my Wal-Mart's Shopkins selection a couple of weeks ago, but they still only had the regular mini figures, none of these Shoppies dolls (I was there Sunday too, but that was a hit-and-run mission, so I didn't peruse the toy aisles at all). I am a bit surprised to see that Moose Toys opted to expand the franchise with dolls, but, as most of the Shopkins are accessories/food for humans anyway, it makes sense in that respect.

We really loved these dolls, too (as you could probably tell). I think my favorite is Bubbleisha, but Popette is a close second. ;) I think doing scented dolls would be an excellent idea. Moose Toys has done the scented Zelf line, so maybe they'll think of it for the Shoppies eventually, too. I would love to see them add scent holes to the packaging, though. I really didn't care for some of the scented Zelf smells, and there was no way to test them without buying them first.

You might check your Walmart again. The Shoppies have started showing up at ours now that it's closer to Christmas. :)

I think the expansion makes sense, too. I love the idea of adding dolls to this universe. It will be interesting to see if they create more dolls for the line. :)

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About Me

I'm a stay-at-home mom with 3 little girls, happily married for 13 years to my high school sweetheart, and most importantly, a Christian. I love singing in my church, spending time with my family, and fixing up TLC dolls. I'm also hoping to eventually become a published author, but we'll see what the Lord has planned.
The other blog contributors on my team are Tess, Maggie, and Emma, my 18" dolls who write on "Jane Austen and Unicorns" about their adventures, and Belle, my 12" Disney fashion doll who shares her life stories on "Belle's Bulletins".